Overview

A riveting crime thriller set in the midst of a sultry Barcelona summer, introducing Inspector Héctor Salgado

Argentine native Inspector Héctor Salgado is one of Barcelona's leading criminal detectives. After a stint on probation—he assaulted a suspect from a human-trafficking case—Salgado is back in the office and eager for something major. To his dismay, he's assigned to a routine ...

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Overview

A riveting crime thriller set in the midst of a sultry Barcelona summer, introducing Inspector Héctor Salgado

Argentine native Inspector Héctor Salgado is one of Barcelona's leading criminal detectives. After a stint on probation—he assaulted a suspect from a human-trafficking case—Salgado is back in the office and eager for something major.
To his dismay, he's assigned to a routine accidental death instead: a college student fell from a balcony in one of Barcelona’s ritzier neighborhoods. But as Salgado pieces together details from the victim's the life, he realizes that his death was not all that simple: his teenage friends are clearly hiding something and drugs might be involved. Salgado follows a trail that will lead him deep into the underbelly of Barcelona’s high society, where he’ll confront dangerous criminals, long-buried secrets, and, strangely, his own past. But Salgado thrives on pressure, and he lives for this kind of case—dark, violent, and seemingly unsolvable.

“Salgado’s rich inner life and Hill’s talents at plotting and prose bode well for a successful series.” —Publishers Weekly

“Penetrating, atmospheric. . . . The plot is first-rate, with plausible twists and revelations [and] the book transcends the mystery genre with its focus on the dark secrets families keep. . . . Thoroughly compelling.” —Kirkus

“Reminiscent of Ian Rankin's John Rebus or Jo Nesbø's Harry Hole, Héctor Salgado is an intriguing new sleuth that crime fiction fans will want to follow as they explore the gritty side of another European city.” —Library Journal

Praise from the UK

“Hugely impressive. . . . Hill’s book seems to have arrived fully-formed with confidence and authority, peeling back the skeins of deceit and betrayal in a most satisfying fashion.” —The Independent

“Entertaining.” —The Times

“A welcome corrective to snow-blindness from too much Nordic noir. . . . Excellent characterization, a sympathetic and engaging protagonist, and plenty of plot twists, with a cliffhanger ending that sets things up nicely for the next in the series.” —The Guardian

“Salgado’s rich inner life and Hill’s talents at plotting and prose bode well for a successful series.” —Publishers Weekly

“Penetrating, atmospheric. . . . The plot is first-rate, with plausible twists and revelations [and] the book transcends the mystery genre with its focus on the dark secrets families keep. . . . Thoroughly compelling.” —Kirkus

“Reminiscent of Ian Rankin's John Rebus or Jo Nesbø's Harry Hole, Héctor Salgado is an intriguing new sleuth that crime fiction fans will want to follow as they explore the gritty side of another European city.”—Library Journal

Praise from the UK

“Hugely impressive. . . . Hill’s book seems to have arrived fully-formed with confidence and authority, peeling back the skeins of deceit and betrayal in a most satisfying fashion.” —The Independent

“Entertaining.” —The Times

“A welcome corrective to snow-blindness from too much Nordic noir. . . . Excellent characterization, a sympathetic and engaging protagonist, and plenty of plot twists, with a cliffhanger ending that sets things up nicely for the next in the series.” —The Guardian

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Customer Reviews

ABookishGirlBlog

Posted July 15, 2014

The reason I picked up this book at the library is because I rec

The reason I picked up this book at the library is because I received the second book in this series for review and the back of the second book was covered in praise for this book so I held off reading the book I got for review so that I could read this first. Inspector Hector Salgado is in deep doo doo! Yep, I said doo doo, I'm trying to stop cussing so anyways, he physically assaulted a perp during an interrogation and had to take a bit of a vacation till the heat wore down a little bit but now he's back. But he still has to watch his back and his temper to avoid placing his job in even further jeopardy. Not long after being back Salgado's boss Savall asks him to look into a case unofficially, here the boss and the victim's mom knew each other, and this rotates from an unofficial inquiry into a suicide/accident to a murder investigation. Did he really fall or was he pushed? Like all good literary detectives Inspector Salgado manages to unravel the mystery behind what seemed to be a tragic accident but turns out to be so much more. One of the best things that I found about this book is that this story is not your conventional crime/police novel there just seems to be this whole mass of events and people without a real huge hint towards the solution, which you normally find littered throughout much of this genre, at least in my opinion, this made the ending a shocker and who doesn't love to be surprised! Not all the book's content is about the crime either, the author lets you into Inspector Salgado's personal life to and the biggest cliffhanger of the story doesn't even involve the crime but instead has something to do personally with Salgado. The ending also makes quite the start for the second book in Antonio Hill's Inspector Salgado series, The Good Suicides, which I should have the review typed up and posted this week to! All and all this was a spectacular read with only a few moments of long seemingly meaningless words in the form of paragraphs.

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As I started reading Antonio Hill's "Summer of Dead Toys,&q

As I started reading Antonio Hill's &quot;Summer of Dead Toys,&quot; I found that after a couple chapters it was very hard to put the book down! Hill has a brilliant way of embracing his storyline, mixing in an array of visionary details about the streets of Barcelona and explaining the many traumas that have happened in Inspector Hector Selgado's past. The story introduces a wide variety of characters, giving a storyline to each of their daily lives, all the while focusing on the case of the intriguing, yet, mysterious fall of Marc Castells Vidal. Crime, drugs, abuse and mystery fill every page, luring readers to keep searching their imagination for who they think is responsible or whether they think it was truly an accident, by littering each chapter with constant clues and new paths the Inspector takes throughout his investigation. The story had a extraordinary way of weaving many plot twists and character dilemmas, keeping me confused until the very end when it came to figuring out what actually happened to Marc.

Antonio Hall's &quot;Summer of Dead Toys&quot; was a truly excellent read. For anyone looking for a book that doesn't give away the storyline or ruin the plot, this book is definitely the &quot;perfect&quot; choice. I am an avid reader of thriller/mystery and detective novels and I can honestly say that Antonio Hill's &quot;Summer of Dead Toys&quot; has not left me with any disappoinment :)

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